Obama Praises Zaevion Dobson, Slain Football Player: ‘Hero at 15’

New details emerged Monday about a night of violence in Knoxville, Tenn., last week that led to the death of Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old who was fatally shot as he tried to shield his friends from gunfire. The case had drawn the attention of President Obama, who called the teenager a hero on Sunday.

“Zaevion Dobson died saving three friends from getting shot,” the president wrote on Twitter. Mr. Obama appeared to allude to the gun control debate when he added, “He was a hero at 15. What’s our excuse for not acting?”

The police said Monday that Zaevion, a sophomore and football player at Fulton High School in Knoxville, was in the wrong place at the wrong time as people believed to be affiliated with gangs engaged in deadly back-and-forth attacks starting Thursday night and stretching into Friday morning.

After attending a basketball game, Zaevion was celebrating being done with school for the holidays when he headed into an apartment building to play video games with his friends, Darrell DeBusk, a public information officer with the Knoxville Police Department, said in an interview on Monday.

He and his friends had stopped to talk to some girls who were on a porch outside an apartment building when they were approached by at least two people.

“There was one question asked to someone that was near Dobson,” Mr. DeBusk said. “Then they just opened fire into the crowd for no reason.”

But the shooting wasn’t exactly random.

Three hours earlier, the mother of Brandon Perry, 23, had been shot in the lower back when more than one gunman opened fire at Mr. Perry’s house. A 10-year-old child who was in the home was uninjured. Mr. Perry was then thought to have driven to Badgett Drive, where Zaevion and his friends were gathered.

“It was done to show to try to prove a point,” Mr. DeBusk said. “It was just a retaliation for his house and his mother being shot.”

David Rausch, chief of the Knoxville Police Department, was emotional on Friday as he described the second shooting to reporters: He said that Zaevion had jumped on top of three girls, trying to save their lives. No one else was injured during that shooting.

Around 2 a.m. Friday, Mr. Perry was shot before crashing his car into an apartment building, trapping an elderly woman in the residence. Mr. Perry later died at a nearby hospital. The police believe he was the intended target in the first shooting.

“Most likely the person who shot Perry’s house originally is the one who found him and shot and killed him,” Mr. DeBusk said on Monday.

A second man, Christopher D. Bassett, 20, was charged in connection with the shooting that killed Zaevion. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and violating his probation. A third male was detained and released, the police said.

“These senseless acts of violence must stop,” Chief Rausch said, adding, “We really do plead with our community to step up and to stop these acts.”

The death has shaken the community where Zaevion and his brother, Zack, went to school and played football for the Fulton Falcons. Madeline Rogero, the mayor of Knoxville, described him to reporters as “one of our success stories.” Friends posted photos that depicted Zaevion as a hardworking athlete and playful friend.

On Saturday, Zack wrote on Twitter that both brothers had been featured on ESPN, but the circumstances couldn’t be more different. Zack was highlighted for catching a pass as he did a back flip. Zaevion’s story was told after he was fatally shot. A GoFundMe account set up for his family has pulled in more than $58,000 since the shooting.

“Would I/you be this brave?” the page’s organizers asked.

In the days since the shooting, Mr. DeBusk said that the authorities had generated a list of people who might know more about what happened that night, and “have basically worked nonstop” to try to locate and interview them.

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